This Postdoctoral Research and Education Program (PREP) combines the faculties of one of the top national research universities and five of the top national minority servicing institutions within a large metropolitan area with 3.5 million people to increase the quantity and quality of post- doctoral fellows achieving careers in biological/biomedical sciences. The program includes interdisciplinary research education that provides the foundation for investigating cellular and molecular mechanisms and a teaching mentorship that includes instruction in pedagogy, classroom technologies, mentorship of undergraduates, laddered teaching experience, course development and production of web-based courses. The faculty in the program has the expertise required to provide the foundation that is critical for outstanding postdoctoral professional development. The PREP research faculty are well-funded with extensive training records. The PREP teaching mentors have the experience and credentials for teaching excellence and mentoring excellence. The faculty are members of 13 biological science departments in the 6 schools. There are many interactions among program faculty, including collaborative research projects, joint research group meetings and joint participation in graduate programs and postdoctoral training programs. PREP has a goal to foster greater inter-institutional cooperation, more extensive joint faculty teaching and research projects, as well as greater exchange of students among the campuses. PREP also seeks to develop a national resource web- site for other postdoctoral teaching and research programs by documenting its program, practices, problems and successes as well as courses and useful links to other resources for postdoctoral professional development. An annual independent evaluation will provide feedback so that PREP can adjust its emphasis and practices in order to successfully meet its goals.